Firearms, such as shotguns, rifles and pistols, are commonly provided with a safety for use in preventing accidental actuation of a trigger. The safety is typically in the form of an elongated bar or button that is mounted to the trigger housing or guard. The safety is designed to be manually movable along a reciprocal path of travel between a safety-on position, where it stops and prevents the trigger from being moved to a fire position, and a safety-off position where it does not interfere with movement of the trigger to the fire position. In order to indicate the status of the safety, the safety often has a portion that is colored red which is exposed and observable whenever the safety is in the safety-off position. This serves as warning to the use of the firearm that the safety is off and the trigger enabled.
Heretofore, it has been recognized that passively observable warnings on firearm safeties such as color-coded signals may go unnoticed unless the firearm user actually looks at and observes the position of the safety switch. In order to provide an active warning signal, firearms have been equipped with luminous and audio signal means for generating a light and/or sound whenever the safety is in the safety-off position. Exemplary of such active safety status signaling devices are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 66,405, 2,134,406 and 3,044,204.
To provide firearms with active signals has heretofore required that the firearms themselves be modified to a substantial extent. For example, firearms with active safety signaling devices have typically had cavities formed in their stocks in which a set of batteries are replacably housed. Channels communicate with these cavities through which wiring extends that couples the batteries with switch mechanisms actuated by the safety. The gun stocks have also been altered to provide audio or luminous signal means that are powered by the batteries and operated in response to the switching mechanism associated with the safety.
Firearms with active trigger safety status signal devices have not met with significant commercial success because of the extent of firearm modification required and due to the fact that they have been permanently incorporated whereby they are present whether or not the user desires such a feature. Accordingly, it would provide a distinct advance in the art where a trigger safety status signaling device devised that could be readily attached and detached from existing firearms in a simple and expedious manner and that would require minimal or no alteration of the firearm itself. Accordingly, it is to the provision of such a signaling device that the present invention is primarily directed.